S1 switch on Fender American Jazz bass

I have a friend's American Jazz bass in for repair, the neck pickup is not working. That got me curious about the S1 switch, so I looked it up to see what it does.

My question is, how valuable is the S1 switch, is having the option of having both pickups in series useful?

I have a Fender MIJ Geddy Lee Jazz and I could easily add a push pull pot to the tone pot, to get the functionality of the S1 switch. I may have to do this to my friend's bass if he wants that feature and it ends up being the switch/pot that is the issue.

I have a friend's American Jazz bass in for repair, the neck pickup is not working. That got me curious about the S1 switch, so I looked it up to see what it does.

My question is, how valuable is the S1 switch, is having the option of having both pickups in parallel useful?

I have a Fender MIJ Geddy Lee Jazz and I could easily add a push pull pot to the tone pot, to get the functionality of the S1 switch. I may have to do this to my friend's bass if he wants that feature and it ends up being the switch/pot that is the issue.

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I dislike the S1 switch myself. The claim was that the S1 switch would get you the tone of a Jazz and a Precision in one bass. If I want my Jazz to sound like a P-bass, I just solo the neck pickup...sounds like a lot more like a P-bass than having two Jazz pickups wired in series IMO.

I wouldn't avoid a Fender simply because of the S1 switch, I have played some very nice Jazz and P basses that were equipped with it. But, as for the function of the switch itself, I find it virtually useless. I would take this opportunity to remove the S! switch and wire your bass with a standard VVT setup. YMMV.

After checking out the American Jazz bass, the neck pickup was reading open. So my friend is order Dimarzio Area J pickups, so I will have to wait to hear the series S1 switch. First time I have ever had a pickup go bad. Once the Dimarzio's get here, I am going to open up the neck pickup if I can and try to find where its open. My friend didn't like the stock pickups much anyways.

Got the Dimarzio Area J pickups installed, love the lack of hum. Bass still sounds muddy, with all controls full on, its like my Geddy Lee with both volumes up and the tone all the way rolled off. I think the strings are dead, hopefully I can borrow it again when my friend restrings it to better evaluate the pickups.

Anyway, played around with the S1 series switch and loved it. I don't think its a tone I would use often, but its nice to have the versatility. I think that running the neck pickup by itself still sounds more like a P-bass than using both pickups in a series wiring. Running the pickups in series made it sound much more authoritative, more toward active territory.

Its personal taste I'm sure, but I have always added a 'henry switch' (series/parallel switch) to my basses with 2 PU's.
I love the sound and I particularly love the look on the guitarists face when I bring it in for his solo.
I have a Musicman Sabre which had a phase switch, I replaced it with a Henry switch and never looked back!

While having the series/parallel option on a Jazz bass can be very useful ('though it won't make a Jazz sound like a Precision), the WAY Fender executed the S-1 switch seemed to be a real problem. It required a proprietary knob and switch set up and it seemed flimsy and hence prone to failure on the ones I played. A regular push/pull switch built into a pot makes more sense, or even a small toggle switch.